Features

By Holly Bridges

A 19 Wing Comox CH-149 Cormorant helicopter has become "the first in the world" to reach 2,000 flying hours, according to personnel 442 Search and Rescue (SAR) Squadron.

Captain Rob Mulholland was the First Officer for the flight on Wednesday, August 9, which put the aircraft over the top for having the most flying hours of any helicopter of its kind in the world. 

"We took off this morning for a routine training flight with members of our air medical evacuation team who needed a check-ride so we flew them around a bit and did some other training maneuvers. The milestone is significant for this particular aircraft and because as far as we know it's the highest time EH-101 in the world so Canada is by far leading the other countries in terms of flying hours in these aircraft," said Capt Mulholland. 

Harlin Price of IMP Group International, who runs the CH-149 Cormorant maintenance program at 19 Wing Comox, says the milestone is a testament to the pilots and air crew who do a "damn fine job" flying the aircraft, and the maintainers who support them do an equally excellent job.  

"Deep down our maintainers feel a great sense of pride in what they do and what they have accomplished, particularly with this aircraft as it crests like this to 2,000 hours," said Price.  "At the end of the day, we're all working together towards the same goal and that's the basic goal of SAR - to seek and save."

442 Squadron has been able to reach 2,000 hours on Aircraft 904 so quickly because of the high SAR tempo on the west coast, and the fact it is the training squadron for all pilots and flight engineers across the country on the CH-149. 

The Cormorant was selected as Canada's new SAR helicopter and the first of these aircraft entered service in 2002 at 19 Wing Comox.  By the spring of 2004, the entire fleet of 15 Cormorants became fully operational.